"I put my life on pause for a year to help someone else for the rest of their life." (Video interview, 30:10)

Bradley Keith Oxford

Bradley Oxford [2005] War: Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, 2001-present Branch: Army Unit: 1450th Transportation Company Service Location: Fort Stewart, Georgia; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Kuwait; Iraq Rank: Specialist Place of Birth: Hickory, NC

Like many citizen soldiers, Specialist Bradley Oxford joined the North Carolina National Guard as a means of funding his college education. While initially angered by his orders to deploy to Iraq, he was deeply affected by his interactions with the Iraqi people, and by the changes that he witnessed taking place in the country. His service in the Middle East convinced him that people everywhere have the same basic aspirations for honest work and a safe place to sleep at night, and he returned to North Carolina with a sense of the meaning and worth of his deployment.